This is the 36th year that AARP Tax-Aide has offered free income tax assistance to those people who feel they cannot afford a paid tax professional.

The service is provided by AARP Georgia volunteers who are trained and certified in cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service and the Georgia Department of Revenue. While taxpayers do not need to be members of AARP or retirees to use this service, priority attention is given to those ages 60 and older. Service also is available for homebound individuals, in certain areas.

Taxpayers should bring copies of last year's returns and current year W-2s, 1099s, and any other documents that may affect their taxes. Even those who are not required to file a federal or state tax return may be eligible for a low-income tax credit from the state of Georgia.

The assistance is available locally through the Oconee County Library. For more information or to locate additional AARP Tax-Aide sites near friends or family members, call AARP Tax-Aide's toll-free number at (888) 227-7669 or visit www.aarp.org/taxaide.

HIPAA course planned for Georgia Center: The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education has partnered with Gatlin Education Services to offer the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Compliance Course. The target audience for this course consists of physicians, physician staff, nurses, hospital administrators, office managers, receptionists, medical billing agencies or any other individual or organization involved in health care who needs to comply with or learn about HIPAA Privacy.

This certificate course provides a comprehensive overview of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act from a health care professional's viewpoint. The program focuses specifically on the HIPAA Privacy regulations which is the major focus of most health care providers, but also provides an overview of the overall HIPAA regulations. This course is meant to satisfy the mandatory training component of HIPAA Privacy for a health care organization's staff.

Enrollment in the open-enrollment, self-paced self-study costs $599 (includes four licenses so four people can take the three-hour course). Successful graduates of the series will earn a University of Georgia Certificate of Completion and up to .3 Continuing Education Units.

For more information, call (706) 542-6692.

Martin, Sullivan, Bone earn promotions: Earlier this month, the National Bank of Georgia announced the promotions of three officers of the bank. Wendy Martin was named vice president - operations; Joy Sullivan was appointed vice president - administration; and Cindy Bone was promoted to assistant vice president - loan administration by a vote of the bank's board of directors.

Martin has 25 years of banking experience and has worked at a number of customer service and bank operations positions at the Citizens & Southern National Bank and Georgia National Bank in Athens. She started with The National Bank of Georgia when it opened in May 2000.

Sullivan has 18 years of banking experience. She has worked for the Bank of Clayton, First National Bank of Habersham County, Georgia National Bank and has worked for NBG since the bank opened for business.

Bone has worked in banking for more than 23 years with Athens First Bank & Trust, Southern Mortgage Center of Commerce, First Federal Savings Bank of Georgia in Winder and First Commerce Bank of Commerce.

Williams selling cars at Heyward Allen Co.: Clark Williams, a native of North Augusta, N.C., has joined the automobile sales force at Heyward Allen Motor Co.

Williams previously worked for Phil Hughes Mitsubishi as a sale representative as well as a finance and investment manager for five years. He majored in business management at Aiken Technical College.

Wright directs Barrow Chamber of Commerce: Carolyn S. Wright in January began duties as the new president of the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce. The president serves as the paid director of the business organization.

Before joining the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce ,Wright spent the past two years as a development director for a fund-raising company out of Atlanta raising capital funding for economic development projects in Collierville, Tenn., Cleveland, Ohio, and Augusta.

A native of Georgia, Wright spent 14 years as president and CEO of two chamber organizations in Houston, Texas, where she also served on the Houston mayor's International Economic Development Council. Wright was responsible for three trade missions to China.